Sunday, November 18, 2007

The Loop searching for 10-minute plays and more!

The Loop is a free monthly newsletter dedicated to playwrights. It's link can be found under our "Resources" column on the right. We consider it one of the great tools available on the net for playwrights in search of FREE submissions of their work to theatres and contests. In fact, they will only publish free submission info. Besides that feature, it also comes with a monthly article written by its founder Gary Garrison that's always a great, fun, and inspiring read. We highly recommend you add it to your "Favorites." Now it is looking to add 10-minute plays among other things. To find out more, read the excerpt from a recent email below:

PLAYS TO THE PAGES OF THE LOOP!

At the beginning of each month, you get a full issue of the Loop, with playwriting news, feature articles, writing exercises, rants, etc. In the middle of the month (like now), you get a "Lop," the Loop stripped of all its regular features and therefore, "lop-sided," until now. From this issue forward, we're going to feature ten-minute plays by you, or me, or my staff, our Loopers. Where will we find the material? Well, as we're out and about, meet you and see your work we might ask if we can publish it. Or maybe someone will recommend something to us. Or maybe you have something that you know is tried and true, and you'd like us to consider it. If so, send us a request for submission guidelines to http://us.f343.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=literaryloop@gmail.com . This issue we're featuring a terrific ten-minute play, The Fisherman, by Minneapolis writer, Jayme McGhan.

THE LOOP STORE ARRIVES!

That's right, cowboys and cowgirls, we got merchandise! We've got cups, cap and THONGS. Okay, so we went a little crazy and had a few laughs, but you'll get a kick out of this.Let me tell you the most important reason we did this: I need money to help pay my staff because right now they're doing all this work almost for free. And I don't want to charge a subscription fee for the Loop. So we figured a way that might be easy on everyone's pocket book is to come up with some merchandise that you can purchase on-line at your discretion. Café Press (our vendor) takes a small percentage, and the rest will go to help pay for my staff's services. When you look at the store, you'll see most things ARE NOT reasonably priced – that's right, you read correctly. It's not reasonably priced because you're actually making a contribution to the Loop AND getting a little product in the process. I mean, is a cup with The Loop logo on it really worth $25? No, of course not. But you're buying a $5 cup and making a $20 contribution. AND, you don't have to buy a single thing and you'll still get The Loop. No shame, no guilt. We know money's tight for everyone. Finally, and read this carefully: there is a $200 messenger bag with "Script Critique." Obviously the bag is $25, but what you're really paying for is my eye on your play. I will give you a thorough, complete written analysis of your work, plus a follow-up phone call(s) to see how you're doing. I'm not going to do a lot of these (only ten), because I only have so much time to spend, so it really is on a first-come, first-served basis. If you choose to purchase this, you go to the store, and then you write to me at the http://us.f343.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=literaryloop@gmail.com and let me know you've done so. I'll take it from there. So here's the address; just cut and paste in your browser, or click here: http://www.cafepress.com/theloopstore. Here's my promise to you: every penny made in the Loop Store goes to my existing staff (and maybe a new staff person – like a proof-reader!) to compensate them for their time. And it'll be a token compensation at that – a way of saying "thank you for your time" to Michelle, Mark, Chris, Patty and Joshua. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. I wish you all peace, love and laughter.